Snickelfritz

Thursday, January 26, 2012

When I was born, my sister was elated to have a sister. She already had three brothers at the time and a baby girl was a nice surprise. She was eleven at the time and I think she thought she was my mother because from that time forward, she told me what to do.

We were always close and shared a bedroom at one time. When she was dating I use to sit at the bedroom window and listen to her and her boyfriend talk and laugh. I was jealous of her boyfriends for spending so much time with her. When one day she announced she was going to get married I got very upset.

That year on my birthday she gave me a beautiful bride doll. She was all lace with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. I loved her so much. Recently while cleaning out a closet I came across her. Her white gown had faded to a soft ecru, her face needed cleaning and her bridal clothes needed a good washing. I bathed her, washed her hair and clothes and dressed her again. She looked just as beautiful as the first day I got her. I never gave her a name. I dreamed that one day I would be like her and wear a beautiful lacy dress.

The week before my sister got married I cried every day. I thought I was losing my sister forever. She kept telling me she wasn't going to live that far away, but I knew I wouldn't see her every day. She was moving to the "big city."

By the time my sister married our family had added another boy. He became my playmate and I believed I was his mother. I read to him and played with him, but he wasn't like a sister.

My sister and I are still close. We talk on the phone and try to get together for lunch a couple of times a year. We live one hundred miles apart so it isn't easy to get together that often. I keep the bride doll on a chair in my hallway so that I can see her every day and remind me how much my sister loves me and that really we are never very far apart in spirit. Bye.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

In my post about chocolate chip applesauce cake I forgot to include the applesauce! I edited my post to make it correct. I hope no one started making one right away or they will have a very dry cake. Sorry. I do this even when I am making the cake. I either forget the applesauce until the last minute or the chocolate chips. Go figure. Bye

Or applesauce chocolate chip cake. I found the applesauce cake recipe online and decided to add the chocolate chips because I love chocolate. This is an amazingly easy, rich, moist, delicious cake that will fill all your needs for something sweet or something chocolate. I make it about every two weeks and cut it into ten pieces and eat a piece a day or so for breakfast.

Chocolate Chip Applesauce Cake

Sift together: two and one-fourth cups of flour, one-half teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of baking soda, one teaspoon of cinnamon, and one-eigth teaspoon of nutmeg. Stir in one-half to one cup of chocolate chips depending how chocolatey you want it. Set this bowl aside.

In another bowl beat together One-half cup of butter( you can use margarine or even canola oil for a really super moist cake, but I use I Can't Believe it's not butter) two cups of brown sugar and two eggs. Add two cups of applesauce and one teaspoon of vanilla. Mix dry ingredients into this mix and put in a greased and floured bundt cake pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until top feels firm, but don't overbake. Cool for a while in pan and turn onto a cake plate. You can dust this with powdered sugar, but I don't. This cake will stay moist if kept covered for over a week. Enjoy.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Tomorrow is David's birthday and I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said he would like a pineapple upside down cake. Tonight I made it and because he could not wait until tomorrow to eat a piece, I put a votive candle on top and sang him the birthday song.

This is the piece David cut out of the cake. One eighth of the cake and he ate it all. It did look good, but I am also baking my chocolate chip applesauce cake. I eat a piece of this cake almost every single morning. I will post a picture of it and the recipe later.

Now about this husband of mine that I have known since I was twelve years old. I was blessed the day I met him which was in the high school gymnasium at Greens Fork High School during a basketball game. My best friend at the time was his cousin and we were running around the school during the game. Her cousins, my future husband and his brother, were following us all over and throwing paper Coke cups at us. We ran into the girls' restroom and every time we tried to open the door the boys would throw more cups at us. My best friend told me years later that I said I was going to marry that boy. I don't know which one I meant at the time, but I did married that boy. Anyway, we missed the whole game, but had so much fun dodging the Coke cups. The trash cans were full of them to overflowing and we thought that was so funny!

Fast forward to five years later. My husband's family was moving to the Virgin Islands and he did not want to go so his Uncle, my best friend's dad, said he could live with them, finish his senior year in the states and then move to the Islands afterward. It turned out that David ended up living with his grandparents in the same town which was nice for me. I was a Junior at the time and saw him at the Dairy Queen the first day of school and was hooked. He looked totally different from all the other boys. While every other male at the time sported a "Beatle" cut, David had short hair and wore a leather jacket.

I attended all the football games and at the first one David sat behind me and my friends. I think some of my friends may have had their eye on him also. That weekend after the game his cousin called me and wanted to know it I would like to go to a movie with her and David? It was David's sneaky way to get a date with me without asking! I said yes.

On Sunday afternoon we three went to see "Joy in the Morning" with Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimieux(don't think I spelled that correctly.) I will always love that movie. David and I held hands and afterward my BF drove us around while David and I necked in the back seat. My children, if they are reading this, are probably gagging right now. Yes, I loved to kiss. I had had my share of necking sessions and had had my share of boyfriends and crushes, but I can honestly say I never enjoyed a date until that Sunday with David.

When I got home from that date my mother looked right at me and said, "You are in love, aren't you?" How perceptive she was. Since she had married her high school sweetheart she knew what young love looked like.

I have been blessed to have been married to David for almost 44 years now and I know my life would never have been as happy if I had not married him. I had some boyfriends that, as I look back now, know they would have not made good husbands.

I could tell you much more, like the time I thought I was going to lose him or the time I broke our engagement, but that will have to be for another time. Bye.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Peek in our back window and this is what you will see. There is always a quilt on the wall. This is a patriotic floral quilt I made from a kit. I very rarely buy kits, but this one caught my eye. By the way, what are you doing peeking in my window? If you are there, you might as well knock on the back door and come in and have a cup of tea.

This is a better picture of the quilt. I know I quilt alot, but really with all the laundry doing, cleaning, cooking, baking, grandchildren playing, dog playing, gardening, Bible studying, husband caring and walking I do, I really spend very few of my hours doing what I love to do best. Right now it is a toss up whether I work on a quilt or I walk. I am on a 10,000 steps regime which is like walking about five miles a day. Some days it is harder than others. Today I walked 14,000 steps. I also have a walking DVD that is really a good workout and incorporates moves with walking. In case you wonder if I have a job, I am retired, NOT. I have been a waitress, a pizza maker, a church cleaner and a day care provider in my lifetime. Now I still work, but it is at home and I work on things I want to do as often as possible.
By the way, I have lost 80 pounds doing all this walking. I don't just do it because I love to walk, although I do.

I love Christmas quilts. Totally love them. I have made several and this is the one I am hand quilting now. It's an almost kingsize double wedding ring.

This is another view with my feet. I thought you would like to see my dirty socks. The quilt looks huge from this viewpoint and a little intimidating. This was before I started quilting it, and it is so relaxing to quilt that I am enjoying it immensely. Bye.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Today was the day I was supposed to get a tooth pulled. One of my wisdom teeth. Here I am at the age I am and still have all my wisdom teeth. That's why I'm so smart. Ha! My appointment was at twelve noon. I hate afternoon appointments for the doctor or dentist because it gives me all morning to worry about it. I don't like to waste a good morning that way.

Anyway, my husband dropped me off at the door of the office and would pick me up later as I was going to be sedated. As soon as I got in the door the girl at the desk started apologizing. The dentist had been called on an emergency and would not be in. "There goes my husband," I said. Then other people started apologizing and hugging me and then I said, "I'll just walk to Jay C's." They said, "You can't do that!" I said I had already walked five miles this morning, what's another half mile or so. Thankfully Jay C isn't far from my dentist. So I started out. As I walked I started to worry that David had decided to go to another store. He thinks only one store can sell groceries, Wal-mart, but I differ with him on that. I didn't see our car in the parking lot as I go nearer and thought I would have to walk back to the dentist's office, but then I saw it. I found David wandering the aisles and he was surprised to see me. We finished the shopping and came home. It had begun snowing when I was walking and the wind was blowing and by the time we got home it was coming down pretty good.

This is what our back yard looked like after only about a half hour of snowing. You can see all the dog tracks on our deck. The snow never stays very pristine around here with them around, but that's okay.

This is our sweet Belle surveying her domain. She looks like a powdered sugar puppy doesn't she?

This is what we have been doing today. I got a new puzzle several months ago and we were going to do that one, but I was rummaging around in a closet for some of our older puzzles and founds this Indiana one. It was fun to do and I was surprised at how many interesting things there are in our state. Told David we will have to make some trips soon to see our own state for a change. We are going to start a San Francisco puzzle this afternoon. Think I'll put my pajamas on and make it a really relaxing afternoon. I have never spent the day in my pajamas except when I was sick and it just sounds like the thing to do. A cup of tea, a puzzle and thou. Does that sound romantic? Bye for now.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

First I wanted to finish up with a couple of Christmas pictures(can't believe it was just two weeks ago.) Here's David and me playing Mr. and Mrs. Santa. David grew his beard while we were in Alaska for five weeks this summer and, surprisingly, I like it alot.

David found an old Lite Bright set that has to be thirty years old in a closet he was cleaning out so I played around with it and came up with these Christmas trees. We kept it lit throughout the week of Christmas.

Every New Year's day my mother would make pillowcase. It was suppose to bring fortune to the home or something like that. We also ate cabbage for the same reason. I have continued that tradition and made two sets of pillowcases. Here is one set. I love the colors.

I like how this set turned out. The green check sets the floral fabric off quite nicely, I think.

I was going to post some pictures of David tilling the garden, really I was, but for some reason the pictures will not post so I will leave you with a beautiful sunset we had a couple of days ago. We have really been having some spectacular sunsets and sunrises lately. Bright reds and pinks and beautiful blues. God's handwork always amazes me. Bye for now.﻿

Sunday, January 8, 2012

I have a collection of bird houses. Some are for the birds and some are for decoration.

This little birdhouse looks like a log cabin. It has housed some wrens for the last two summers. The wrens sit out in the snowball bush beside our deck and sing their hearts out. Notice the green door on the fence? I painted it several years ago and we used it as a gate to our backyard for a while. Now it is fastened to the fence. I don't know why. Guess I just couldn't stand to get rid of it.

Isn't this a cute little house? I got it from my daughter-in-love and my grandkids for Christmas. I love it.

It has this little nest attached to the roof with fake eggs inside it. Hope that doesn't confuse the birds when they are looking for a house.

One of my grandchildren painted this house a couple of years ago. It needs a little sprucing up so maybe we will work on that this summer.

This is not a birdhouse. It is a stop the dogs barking thingamajig that is supposed to emit a high shrill sound that only dogs are supposed to hear and it is supposed to stop their barking. I think I can hear it. I must be part dog. My dogs, after a few days, ignore it. In fact, I think they bark more because they like to hear it!

As the sign says, all birds are welcome in our yard. We can sit out on our swing in the summer and watch birds flying all over the yard, cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, goldfinches, brown thrashers, house wrens, and when we are really lucky, indigo buntings. We have tried to entice bluebirds with bluebird houses, but haven't had any yet. Will be back soon. Bye.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Really, has winter gone already? It was so like Spring out today with warm sunshine, fluffy clouds, birds singing and flowers poking their heads up out of the ground. I know we are going to pay for all this soon, but I am hoping it stays this way a little bit longer.

Today David and I hung birdhouses. Two were new ones I got for Christmas and the rest were ones we had taken down and cleaned out and repaired. When we put one up that we have had up for years several little birds flocked around it as though checking out the housing. I'll post some pictures later of some of my birdhouses, but tonight I am too lazy to put pictures on my blog. I am too busy sitting in my easy chair watching the GOP debate. Honestly, I love an election year and am a political junkie.

Anyway, back to today. We built a fire outside and worked in the yard. I cleaned up some leftover sunflower stalks and David stacked wood and tilled the garden. On January 7th David actually tilled the garden because the ground was not frozen solid. I am dreaming of summer and a big garden with green beans, tomatoes, romaine, cucumbers, sunflowers and maybe some other things.

A friend called me to say she would be at church and I wanted to go put up some posters about a Bible study the women are going to do and I also wanted to help her clean our Sunday school carpet. I loaded up my steamvac and spent a couple of hours at church working with her.

I also managed to walk six miles today and am pooped. Don't know if I will last through the whole debate. I hope people pay attention to the election this year and who is running and make serious decisions about who they are voting for. I am worried about our country and we all need to pay attention to what is going on. Okay, that's as political as I will get because everyone has an opinion.

I'm going to pick up a quilt I am working on right now. It's a double wedding ring in Christmas colors. Maybe I will get it quilted by next Christmas as I am hand quilting it. I'm getting sleepy. Yawn. Bye for now.

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About Me

I'm a homebody who loves all the home arts including quilting, sewing, embroidering, gardening, baking and more. I also love to walk and read, but not at the same time. I have another blog on snicklefritz.net